In 2020, researchers claimed to have discovered a Neanderthal Covid gene decreased our ability to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Now a new research project in Japan has identified a group of three genes in human DNA, inherited from Neanderthals, which help out the body cells as they try to defeat invading viruses. These genes can reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19 “by about 20%”.
Identification of the “Neanderthal Covid-19 Resistant Genes”
The team of researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany found that crossing modern humans and Neanderthals led us to inherit the gene about 60,000 years ago. The scientists have now determined that having this gene can help you fight SARS-CoV-2, which affects people in a variety of ways, ranging from no symptoms at all to respiratory failure and death.
Last year in one Ancient Origins news article I discussed the findings of Professors Svante Pääbo, who heads the Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit at OIST in Japan, and his colleague Hugo Zeberg. The pair of genetic scientists published a controversial report in Nature claim that “the largest genetic risk factor identified to date, doubling the risk of developing severe Covid-19 when infected with the virus, was inherited from Neanderthals.” In fact, the paper said the Neanderthal gene “increases the risk of developing severe Covid-19”.
Now, the same group of genes has been found to be beneficial for about 20% of people, and it can help reduce their risk of getting seriously ill and being hospitalized with Covid-19. This new research was just published in PNAS
Recent research indicates that a gene called the “Neanderthal Covid gene” may affect our ability to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms. Production Perig / Adobe Stock)
22% lower risk of severe Covid-19 symptoms
The same pair of scientists have now published a new study based on the findings of a 2020 study of Genetics of Critical Care Mortality GenOMICCThis UK project analyzed the genome sequences of “2,244 people who developed severe COvid-19” and identified additional genetic regions on four chromosomes that affect how individuals respond to the virus when they become infected. The research shows that human genes “are nearly identical to those found in three Neanderthals – one ~ 50,000 year old Neanderthals from Croatia, and two Neanderthals, one about 70,000 years old and the other about 120,000 years old, from Southern Siberia.”
The scientists are clear that conditions such as diabetes and obesity greatly enhance the effects of Covid-19. However, “surprisingly” this second genetic factor affects Covid-19 outcomes in the opposite direction of the first genetic factor, by “providing protection rather than increasing the risk of developing severe Covid-19”. For those who would like to keep abreast of developments in DNA sciences, this Neanderthal variant has been discovered on chromosome 12. And to be precise, having this gene reduces the risk of intensive care after a Covid-19 infection. by about 22%.
Geographic distribution of the Neanderthal Covid gene that may reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19. OpenStreetMap / 1000 Genomes project
How Neanderthal genetic variants affect us today
In an effort to understand how this Neolithic genetic variant affects Covid-19 outcomes, the research team looked at three genes in a newly identified region. Known as OAS the body produces these defensive enzymes upon viral infection and they stimulate other enzymes that attack and break down the viral genomes that reside in infected cells. In a press release from an Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University, Professor Pääbo explained that “it is amazing that despite the fact that Neanderthals became extinct about 40,000 years ago, their immune systems still affect us today both positively and negatively. . ”
In their new study, the researchers also analyzed how the newly discovered Neanderthal-like genetic variants “changed in frequency after entering modern humans some 60,000 years ago.” Professor Pääbo noted that the enzymes encoded by the Neanderthal variant are “more efficient” at reducing the risk of serious consequences from SARS-CoV-2 infections. In addition, the results of the new study show that the Neanderthal variant “increased in frequency after the last ice age and then again in frequency during the past millennium.”
The bad Neanderthal gene isn’t a Japanese “thing” at all
The fact that the Neanderthals had developed this gene more than 60,000 years ago suggested to the researchers that it must have been beneficial in the past, “perhaps during other outbreaks of diseases caused by RNA viruses,” said Professor Pääbo. “The gene is present in about half of people living outside Africa, and about 30% of people in Japan.
Let’s go back to last year’s article identifying a Neanderthal gene that was “a major health risk.” The Japanese scientists must have been somewhat relieved to find in their new study that this negative genetic variant, inherited from Neanderthals, is nearly unmeasurable in modern Japanese populations.
Top image: New research has found that a group of genes called Neanderthal covid genes reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19 by about 20% and are inherited from Neanderthals. Source: Bjorn Oberg / Karolinska Institutet
By Ashley Cowie